


All That's Known

by sayasamax3



Series: 2013 Drabble Give-Away [19]
Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 14:24:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sayasamax3/pseuds/sayasamax3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tajima tries not to know, and sometimes wonders if he really knows at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That's Known

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by peridexis!

The thing is, Tajima is  _aware_  of the looks he gets—from his team, from the cheer team, sometimes from people in his class or the halls.  He never thinks about it too much (mostly because it doesn’t bear much thinking about), but it’s there in the back of his mind, filed away with all the other things he notices and never talks about.

Tajima’s not really sure what makes that look  _different_  when it comes from Riou, so he spends a lot of  time staring at Riou whenever the other boy starts to make that face, which happens with a much higher frequency the more he does this.

“Y-you stare too much,” Riou grumbles—he’s always such a grumbly, grumpy sort, and Tajima wonders about that every time their little get-togethers end with Riou’s head on his stomach. 

“You do too,” Tajima replies, which is perhaps the wrong thing to say because Riou turns his face away with a motion sharp enough to cut.

Immediately, Tajima is bothered and immediately he knows why.

“Hey, look at me.”

Never one to give in all the way right away, Riou turns his head  _just_  enough to see Tajima through the corner of one eye. 

“Why should I?”

“’Cause I like it when you do.”

The wrong thing to say—again.  Huh, Tajima’s not used to honesty failing him.

“Are you making fun of me?” Riou asks, and Tajima doesn’t have to see Riou’s face to know he’s scowling.

“Why would I make fun of you?”

That gets Riou to look at him.  Though maybe “look” is too soft of a word, it’s more piercing than a simple look.

(So much of Riou is prickling and sharp edges, and Tajima’s never known how to walk away from things that could hurt.)

“You’ve gotta know,” Riou insists, but his tone says  _I hope you don’t._

“Know what?” Tajima asks, even though he thinks he does, just a bit.  To be fair, it’s something he tries awfully hard  _not_  to know.  “I’m not a mind-reader.”

“Yes you are,” Riou shoots back immediately, his voice straining with petulance. 

Tajima’s not quite sure how to respond without laughing, so he doesn’t.

“Okay, so  _maybe_  you aren’t,” Riou concedes after a moment, peeking back at Tajima once again.  “But you do know.”

“Tell me anyway,” Tajima says, a hint of desperation in his voice because maybe he  _doesn’t_  know, and that’s not an assumption he’s full enough of himself to voice aloud.

Slowly Riou shifts, first on to his stomach, then to his hands and knees, so that he can really scrutinize Tajima’s expression up close before saying, with that special tone of his which somehow manages to be both sulky  _and_ determined, “I like you.  A lot.”

“And I like you,” Tajima repeats, with extra emphasis and as much earnestness as he can muster, “ _A lot._ ”

Tajima’s not sure what he expected, but Riou lying back down with a quiet “Oh,” wasn’t it.

But it feels right, he decides, with one hand moving through Riou’s hair before he can question the move. 

It feels beautifully, perfectly right.  


End file.
